Fred Herzog has been someone I have been paying more attention to during these past few months. Herzog who was one of the first photographers to use colour in the 1950s and '60s - still in the era where black and white photography was the expected and widely accepted form of making images and viewing them. Colour was reserved for commercial purposes and not considered as art or documentary medium, and was not taken seriously.
"A colour photograph reproduced in a magazine, or semi-luxury edition sometimes gives the impression of an anatomical dissection which has been badly bungled." - Henri Cartier-Bresson
However, Herzog broke from that. Using Kodachrome, his images have a gorgeous aesthetic to them. Almost reflective of realist paintings from that era. As photographs, they bring a vibrant view to a time that people are used to seeing in black and white. Shedding new light on that time he gives you a fresh perspective into a world that he saw, his reality that is very thoughtful and somewhat free. He is fully present, capturing his subjects as they are going about their daily lives, unaware and autonomous, which creates a sense of desire to know more about these lives.
Fred Herzog-Bible Reader
I think having been born and raised in a different country also had a significant influence on how he made his images. "You grow up in any city you see as average and ordinary, but if you come from Germany to Vancouver you see something that a Cadianian does not see, What I saw was something exotic." (Fred Herzog. 2013)
He was inspired by the vibrance of the city and the people living in it. Much like Herzog, I'm drawn to the landscape of this new home, America, and the people in it. I do feel I observe and see this land as a place worth exploring still and as I continue to refine my work I want to consider his methodology. However, my focus is not strictly street photography. I value his approach, use of colour, and observations of the world around him.
'What you bring to the picture is everything you are, everything you have learned, everything you have intellectualized" - Fred Herzog.
McNeill - Sliver Plume, CO 2020 ( kodachrome E100)
Reference
Laurence Miller Gallery (http://www.laurencemillergallery.com/artists/fred-herzog)
Fed Herzog. Bogner's Grocery, 1960
Fred Herzog. Family, 1967
Henri Cartier-Bresson - Winter 2013 issue of Canadian Art. https://canadianart.ca/features/fred-herzog-art-of-observation/
Equinox Gallery
Fred Herzog-Bible Reader, 1970